Israel bombs Assad's chemical weapons, missiles to prevent Syrian rebels' takeover: Reports

Israel has ramped up the aerial campaign in Syria following the collapse of President Bashar-al Assad’s decadeslong rule, according to reports.

In a stunning offensive that began late last month , the Syrian opposition forces led by Hayat Tahrir al-Sham (HTS) toppled the Assad’s regime over the weekend within two weeks, forcing Assad to flee with his family to Russia .

To prevent Assad regime’s weapons, including missiles and chemical weapons, from falling into the hands of Syrian opposition forces, Israel conducted multiple waves of airstrikes across Syria over the weekend, according to Times of Israel and Reuters.

Even though Assad, an ally of anti-Israel Iran and Hezbollah, has been overthrown, the main victor HTS is an Islamist authoritarian group which was until 2016 formally affiliated with terrorist group Al Qaeda. Even though the HTS and its leader, Abu Mohammed al-Jolani, say the group has given up its terrorist ways, there are doubts whether the group has really ceased to be a jihadist organisation.

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Amid fears of Islamists utilising the chaos from Assad’s ouster, Israel has ramped up operations inside Syria and along Israel’s border with Syria.

Hezbollah has long used Syria as a base to launch operations against Israel. The ouster of Assad is a key blow to Iran’s so-called ‘Axis of Resistance’ that has long used Syria for strategic depth and to launch operations against Israel and US interests in the region and to also transport weapons and personnel to and from Lebanon.

Israel hits missiles, chemical weapons in Syria: Reports

Dozens of Israeli warplanes struck several targets across Israel in multiple waves of airstrikes over the weekend.

The Times of Israel quoted defence sources as saying that the Israeli airstrikes focussed on destroying “strategic weapons”. Sources described the airstrikes as “very intensive”.

The newspaper reported that Israeli warplanes struck advanced missile storage sites, air defence systems, weapon production facilities, and a chemical weapons site over the weekend.

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Separately, Reuters reported that Israel struck sites associated with Assad’s regime in capital Damascus and elsewhere in the nation in two waves of airstrikes over the weekend.

In Damascus, Israel conducted three airstrikes on Sunday against a security complex and a government research centre, the news agency reported two regional sources as saying.

One of these sites was previously used to develop missiles, according to the agency.

The airstrikes caused extensive damage to the main customs headquarters and buildings adjoining the military intelligence offices within the security complex in Damascus, said sources.

The airstrikes also hit infrastructure used to store sensitive military data, equipment, and guided missiles parts, said a source.

Separately, Israel struck at least seven sites in southwest Syria’s Khalkhala airbase near Sweida city and near Mezzah military airport southwest of Damascus, according to the agency.

At Khalkhala, the warplanes struck large stockpile of missiles, air defence batteries, and munitions left behind by fleeing Assad’s forces and the strikes hit ammunition depots in strikes near Mezzah, as per the agency.